John 1:29–34
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and
declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is
he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was
before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this
reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the
Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did
not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on
whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the
Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of
God.”
Commentary
It seems that we have an extended week of
Christmas theme. In fact, we have moved
on to the Ordinary Time. This week is
the transitional week from Christmas to Ordinary time. In this transitional week, we see two
persons: John the Baptist and Jesus.
However, John invites us to look at Jesus: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (verse
29)” How familiar are these words to
us. We say them at every Mass, but do we
know what do these words mean? These few
simple words really tell us how Jesus takes away the sin in what capacity.
John points
out that Jesus is the “Lamb of God”.
However, this lamb is not a passive lamb as most of us would
imagine. If this imaginary was correct,
we may ask, how could he take away the sin of the world? Therefore, the image
of Jesus as the “Lamb of God” must be an active and strong one. How can John recognizes Jesus, “the lamb”, is
powerful and active? We must remember
that John comes from a priestly family.
His father, Zechariah, was a priest.
So, John knows something about “the lamb” in the scriptures.
The
first aspect of “the lamb” seen in the biblical tradition can be found in the
Book of Exodus, where the blood of slaughtered lambs was sprinkled on the door
posts on the night of Exodus. So, the
lamb’s blood gives life to others.
Another
aspect of “the lamb” seen in the biblical tradition is well expressed by
prophet Isaiah, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open
his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is
silent, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).” This is another well-known scripture to
us.
But
John sees both aspects of “the lamb” in a different light. What he sees is that Jesus is not only “the
lamb”, but “the Lamb of God”. How can John
know that Jesus is “the Lamb of God”? It
is from the way how Jesus reveals himself.
Though Jesus is “the lamb” in the sense of the scripture, he is not
self-pitying. Instead, he is full of
confidence because he knows it well that he is the beloved son of God as
affirmed by the Father through the Holy Spirit at the time of his Baptism, when
he heard a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am
well pleased (Luke 3:22).” This
affirmation of his identity as the Son of the Father gives him the confidence
to carry out the mission given by his Father because he knows that he is secure
in the hands of God and that he is loved by God.
At
this point, it is appropriate to ask ourselves: Whether we also feel secure in
the hands of God and loved by God? How often we seek the love of the people? How often we feel insecure when we are
different from others? How often we turn
to people and things to satisfy our needs for security and love?
Apart
from Jesus, John knows about these because he listens to God, who sends
him to baptize with water, saying to him, “He on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And John continues, “And I myself have seen
and have testified that this is the Son of God.” From this short passage, we may ask: Can we
listen to God as John did? Can we see
what God has done as John did? Can we
testify as what John did?
To listen to God’s words, to take part in
God’s actions, and to evangelize the Good News are the basics of being a
Christian. In these three stages, like
the images of the lamb in the Bible, we move from passivity to participatory
and finally, activity. Take John as an
example. He listens to God’s invitation
to baptize people with water. He takes
part in God’s action by going to River Jordan to baptize people with
water. In his baptizing ministry he
meets Jesus and eye-witnesses God’s work.
He then tells others what he has witnessed.
In every Mass, we are reminded of these three
stages. We first listen to God in the liturgy
of words, we then take part in the liturgy of Eucharist, and at the end of the
Mass we are sent out to proclaim the Good News in our daily life. We should be thankful to God for inviting us
to take part in his Kingdom. Amen.